Steam Heat: Book One: State of the Free Nations
by Belle Mortre
Summary: For four years, Zuko has been chasing the Avatar and his companions to no avail. When he finally finds the one plan that will ensure his return to The Fire Nation, he must decide betewn his honor, his heart and his father. BEWARE OF SEXUAL CONTENT!
1. How it all began

Hello everyone! My name is Belle Mortre, and this is my first Avatar piece, though I have a few other s for Teen Titans. I hope you enjoy this one, however I am going to warn you that as the story progresses, there will be a lot of explicit sexual scenes, so if you aren't comfy with them, you have been warned.

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Katara moved silently through the woods, arms laden with a soft linen towel, small ration of soap and spare shift. She had left Aang and Sokka setting up camp with Abba, the pair of boys bustling around camp with a practiced efficiency. They had conceded to Katara's pleas to wash off the dust of the road in the face of the fact that she had single handedly haggled a bundle of much needed bananas from a tightfisted stall owner that morning.

From speaking to a young woman in the market that same morning, Katara had learned of a set of natural springs about three miles outside the town, near where Katara and her companions planned to camp. As she wended her way through the placid copse, she could hear the soft gurgle of water moving up ahead and she turned the corner of the narrow footpath to come upon a breathtaking sight

A gentle glade surrounded by blossoming jasmine trees concealed a small spring perfectly, filling the clearing with their intoxicating scent. The pool itself was clear and sparkling and Katara felt her body visibly relax. She couldn't remember the last time she had had a hot bath! Bathing in streams kept her clean, but they also chilled her to the bone. This promised to be pure pleasure.

The young woman walked lazily to the edge of the steaming pool and set her bathing items carefully on a rock nearby.

Thanking the gods of her people that this was such an isolated area that the chances of passersby would be thin, Katara removed her soft leather boots, which were then followed by her leggings. With one last breath, Katara removed her tribal robes and slipped easily into the water.

It was paradise.

The water was just the right temperature to soothe her muscle aches without scorching. Her nipples tightened as they stayed exposed in the air, which now seemed quite cold in comparison to the spring. Katara slid a little lower down into the water and a small, pleasured sigh escaped her lips.

Gods above, she had needed this.

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The Prince of the Fire Nation stalked his prey with a natural grace and inherent talent for tracking. His quarry was blissfully unaware of his presence.

This was just the way he liked it.

He followed silently as she moved farther and farther away from the safety of her friends. As soon as he had her alone she was his.

Zuko watched the waterbender enter a small clearing surrounding a natural spring. He would have to remember to tell his uncle about this spot later, the old man did so love soaking in the springs. He positioned himself behind a twisting jasmine tree, carefully hidden from the girl.

What was she doing out here all on her own? He wondered. A young woman really shouldn't be unaccompanied in such an isolated area.

Zuko grinned wickedly; this was going to be easier than he had thought. All by herself and no one to hear her scream. Not that she would have time to yell for help, a true firebending warrior knew how to take a captive so quickly that they never had enough time to realize what had passed.

Carefully, so as not to be noticed by his victim, he snaked his head around the trunk of the tree to observe the goings-on in the clearing. What was she doing? Washing her clothes?

But then she began to disrobe.

No, she defiantly was not washing her clothes.

All thought fled as the girl, Katara, he believed she was called, slowly removed her boots, leggings and finally her deep blue robes. She was flawless, a smooth expanse of dusty flesh surrounding toned, slim mussels and perfectly perfect breasts. His breath caught in his throat at the realization that certain parts of his armor were slowly tightening as he became steadily harder.

This was not part of the original plan.

Yet Zuko still could not take his eyes off the girl as she moved into the water. He watched her unbraid her hair and shake it out, the silky mahogany tresses falling down her back and floating on the water. He watched her take up the small piece of soap and lather it across her body. And he watched her as she dipped under the water to wash the soap from her skin before rising up to float languidly on the top of the pool.

What was he going to do now? The chivalrous laws of his people commanded the utmost respect of woman, no matter their nation. A lady was a lady and judging by Zuko's past dealing's with the Avatar and his companions, Katara of the Water Nation was most defiantly a lady.

True, she was a daring fighter and a steadfast friend, but still Zuko could not make himself move from his hiding place to take her now. He would simply have to wait for Katara to finish her bath.

Trying desperately not to watch her in her most intimate moment, Zuko reviewed the finer points of his plan.

The first step was to take prisoner the waterbender and keep her hostage on his ship, which sat waiting for him in a small cove nearby.

The next step was to send out a hostage missive to the Avatar demanding a trade of the girl for the boy.

Then all Zuko had to do was sit back and wait for the airbender to fall into his lap.

A sudden splashing sound alerted the hunter to his prey's movements. Peering around the tree again, Zuko was once more treated with the sight of Katara climbing out of the pool, water sluicing off her body. His pulse raced at the sight of her wet body glistening in the sun streaming through the trees.

'_This is mad!' _Zuko thought wildly._ 'She is a member of my enemy tribe. I shouldn't be watching this girl in such a manner!' _

But when he reflected on it, Katara really wasn't much of a girl anymore. Two years had passed since their battle in the North Pole and in that time Katara had blossomed into a sensuous young woman of about sixteen, not much younger than Zuko's own eighteen years.

She was re-dressing in a clean blue tunic which, Zuko reflected smirking, she filled out **very** well. He shifted his body in preparation to pounce. She would move right past Zuko on her way back to her camp, he was perfectly positioned to capture his bait.

She was right before him, delightfully unaware that her end was near. Before Katara had time to think, he was upon her, one solid blow to the back of her head knocking her to the ground.

A single grunt of a laugh escaped the warrior prince's lips before he hefted the unconscious lithe figure over his back and set off at a run back to his ship, task completed.

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Everything felt hazy. Moaning slightly, Katara forced trough the fog clouding her brain to realize that she was shackled in some way. Her chin was resting on her chest and when she raised her head she felt her hands bound behind her back.

Her breathing was heavy, as though there was a sponge stuck in her throat. As her surrounding became clearer, the waterbender was able to pinpoint the source of the hindrance.

Katara's captors had deposited her in a chamber of some dark metal. The girl sniffed and caught the sharp tang of iron in her nose. There was only one place that Katara could think of that so sank of doom:

A Fire Nation war galley.

And there was only one person who would dump a waterbender in her own personal hell of metal and heat:

Zuko.

Fear jumped through her body, tensing up every tiny muscle, and Katara scrambled to collect her wits. She would need them about her if a confrontation with the Prince of the Fire Nation was soon in coming.

Slowly, the young woman relaxed her body against the wall as much as was possible in her shackled state and let sleep consume her, worry plaguing her dreams

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Zuko paced from side to side on the stern of his massive war galley, hands clasped tightly behind his back, with only his Uncle Iroh for company. The rest of his crew was either below decks taking advantage of their sleep shifts or wandering about aimlessly on the anchored ship. There was nothing for them to do, concealed as they were in the marshy Earth Kingdom bog.

The retired general watched his nephew's endless pacing, growing slightly dizzy at the sight, "What do you plan to do now that you have the girl?"

"I'll need to solidify the whereabouts of the Avatar before I can go forward with anything else No doubt he and the girl's brother will have moved on by now that they know I've got her. I've dispatched our finest scouts to scour the surrounding land in a fifty-mile radius. They couldn't have gotten farther than that in the short hour since the girl has come under our control."

"Are you sure what you have done is a wise decision Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked in his gentle tone. "The girl is clearly much love by both her bother and the Avatar."

Zuko cut the old man off. "That is precisely the point uncle! The Avatar won't risk capture for a casual acquaintance!"

"But that is my point!" Iroh took control of the conversation again. "She is much more than a casual acquaintance to the Avatar. For all we know, they may even be lovers."

"Uncle!"

"What?"

"The monk is barely more than fourteen. He is still practically a child."

"There are places in other nations where these things happen at such a tender age, Zuko. And the girl is very attractive. I wouldn't be surprised if she **were** sharing his bed"

"Uncle!"

"Do not look so chagrined my nephew," Iroh said, chuckling at the rare, abashed look on his charge's face. "How old were **you** when you first took a woman to your bed?"

"That is beside the point Uncle!" Zuko's ears had turned quite red at the tips, never a good sign. "Listen to me. Now, because the girl is so adored by the Avatar, he will most defiantly come to retrieve her, you know he will. We have both witnessed them in battle, one will move to protect the other if the other is injured. He **will** come for her."

"Whatever you say Prince Zuko."

And with that last note, the Prince spun on his heel and removed himself from the bridge to confront his alluring prisoner.

Five minutes later Zuko stood before the bolted door of the ship's brig. He had purposefully ordered his guards to lock the girl down in the pit of his ship, knowing full well that her only true weapon was her bending. So far away from any source of water, the chit wouldn't stand a chance of defending herself.

A quick breath to re-compose his stoic features and Zuko pushed through the door with the practiced grace and pomp only royalty posses.

A dim room smelling sweetly, to Zuko, of iron greeted him. Besides the familiar metallic aroma, however, Zuko detested spending any time in the ship's cells and for a brief moment he felt a stab of guilt at imprisoning a woman who's people based their entire existence on communing with nature in such a dark little pit.

But this was none of his concern.

His golden gaze swept across the room and landed on a small figure curled up in the corner where she had been chained. She wasn't moving! Oh gods, had he killed the girl when he had debilitated her for transported to his ship?

No, no, she had just sighed, she was only asleep.

Releasing a breath he didn't know he had been holding, Zuko strode across the tiny cell and hunkered down beside his captive.

The young prince couldn't help but notice how peaceful his enemy looked in sleep. Gentle, almost ethereal. Only ever having faced her in battle, Zuko had never seen her like **this** before, and suddenly the memory of the peaceful glade he had capture her in rose to the surface of his mind.

Zuko shook his head violently to banish the thought. This was no time to be indulging in idle fantasies! There was work to be done.

His hand shot out, quick as lightning, to knock the girl in the side of the head. A soft moan escaped her lips and her eyelids fluttered open to reveal eyes as clear and blue as the ocean after a storm.

"Ughhhhh…" she groaned, "Wha… What…?" And then her situation seemed to come rushing back to her and she jerked against her bonds.

Katara shot herself into a crouched position and glared daggers at Zuko, chest heaving as she panted, trying desperately to regain her equanimity.

"Zuko," she hissed.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite waterbender. And how are we feeling today?" His voice dripped mockery.

"What do you want Zuko?"

"I would think that my aims are self-explanatory on the whole."

And yes indeed, to Katara, everything was perfectly clear.

"You would use me to tell you where the Avatar is."

"Not quite."

She rode over him, "Because I wont do it. I would die for Aang, and there is nothing you could ever do to me that will make me give him up!"

"Be quite."

"Nothing!"

Zuko shoved his hand against her lips, consequently pressing the young woman against the wall of her cell.

"Shut. Up!" Zuko's voice rang in the tight enclosure. "My god woman, are you never quiet?"

Her eyes blazed with rage above Zuko's calloused hand.

"For your information, Katara, is it?" She growled. "Lovely. Like I was saying, you are not quite correct in your thinking. True, I plan on using you to capture my prize, but I do not require any information from you. The Avatar will fall right into my lap. Now," Zuko pulled away and backed up to the door, "hush up and enjoy the trip, hostage, all you have to do is wait. Try not to be any trouble for the guards."

Now everything made sense to the girl. Katara flung herself at her captor, falling back onto the floor again when her chains reached their limit. "You bastard!" She screamed. "You son of a jackal! I curse your family's name, I hope you burn in the hell of your gods!"

He ignored her.

The waterbender was still screaming obscenities in Zuko's name even after the prince had shut the door behind him, given orders to the guards not to speak to Katara, and traveled back up the corridor in the direction of his own chambers.

Zuko did not particularly care; let her shout. It wouldn't be the first time a woman had cursed him to hell and back for the things he had done in order to return home.

Of course, all his other planes had proved fruitless, but not this time.

Now Zuko had a foolproof plan that would restore his honor and the love of his people. And more importantly; the love of his father.

All that was left now was to wait for his scouts to return with the whereabouts of the Avatar and everything else would fall into place.

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Back in her cell, Katara had yelled herself hoarse. This was it, for all of them. There was no way for her to contact Aang, meaning that he would defiantly come to save her and this time Katara feared that there world be no escape for her dear companion.

Unwillingly, tears flowed down her cheeks as Katara rose onto her knees in an attitude of prayer, hands clasped and head bowed.

"Please, Great Tui and La, spirits of the moon and ocean, spirits in who's gentle guidance I follow. Deliver me from this hell and protect me in my flight. Oh Great Hei-Bai, keep Aang from harm, he is of your kin, keep him close." Sobs racked her defeated body. "Spirits of Sun and Moon, Earth and Wind, hear my prayers, do not lead the Avatar to his death."

Katara prayed for what seemed to be hours. Finally, body and mind exhausted, she curled back up to sleep against the foul, hot walls of her prison cell, a thousand thoughts chasing themselves around the head at once.

"_With any luck the boys will have figured things out by now and gotten away. Maybe they are already on their way to the rendezvous point."_ Katara thought, remembering a pact she, Sokka and Aang had made the previous year in a small Earth Kingdom inn while searching for an earthbending master to teach Aang. In the darkest corner of that wayside tavern in the third year of their travels, the three had sworn that if they should ever become separated for more than a day again, they would all travel to the nearest abandoned Air Temple and wait for the others to arrive. _"Gods willing they remembered this and won't come crashing onto Zuko's ship to rescue me,"_

With a last defeated sob, she turned over and watched the moon rise through the one tiny window until the familiar feeling of peace the moon supplied to her people took over and lulled the girl to sleep.

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Well there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I promise things will pick up in the next few chapters, Aang and Sokka will come into play and Katara won't seem quite so helpless. I was just a little rushed at the moment.

I'd love to know what you think!

Ciao Loves!

Belle Mortre.


	2. Scouts in the night

Ok, it seems I forgot to clarify a few things in the first chapter. You see, I started this story before the second season began, and then "The Avatar State" came out and it's like 'oh crap', all this new information and a story line that doesn't quite make sense against it. So this is how things are going to work: I am mainly going to work off of information from the first season, but I may pull little bits and pieces from the second season as is appropriate. That being said, here is a time lapse for the past two years:

Zuko: after the battle at the north pole, he and Iroh floated around for a few weeks and eventually arrived at the port of Xiamen, where they discovered that Lieutenant Ji and small group of their old crew had actually not gone with Zhao when he recruited Zuko's crew right before the attack on the waterbenders. The small group had been hiding in Xiamen, waiting for some sign of the Prince's survival. In the mean time, Ji and the others had secured a new war galley from a Fire Nation governor near Xiamen who was tricked into believing that he was donating his personal ship to the Fire Lord's navy, not to the banished Prince. Needless to say, Zuko and Iroh got the crew out of Xiamen rather quickly, before the governor figured out what was going oink. In Sozen, Azula is still a bending prodigy, but she has not yet been dispatched to hunt her brother. Zuko is still determined to capture Aang. As to the comet, (damn, I was really hoping no one would remember about that thing) as it turns out, Ozai's astronomers misinterpreted the signs of the comets arrival and announced a date that was two years early: the amended date for the comet's arrival would be some months after this story began. Needless to say, those astronomers were sentenced to death by one seriously pissed Ozai (the comet will be more important in the second book of my series)

Aang and the gang: As was shown in the beginning of the first episode of the second season, Aang, Katara, and Sokka are escorted away from the north pole by Paku, blah, blah, blah. Then they travel around the Earth Kingdom fro a while looking fro a teacher for Aang, though miraculously never finding a master who has the courage to train the avatar (yeah for writer's privilege  !)

Disclaimer: I don't any of the Avatar stuff, blah, blah, blah, you guys know the drill.

Ps: thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are the reason I keep writing, so keep bugging me, it helps. I can't list everyone here right now b/c I have rambled on enough for the moment, so look for you names in the next chapter.

On with the show!

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Aang sat atop Appa's saddle, reigns held tightly in his hands as he guided the great beast over the Earth Kingdom forest below. Sokka was seated behind his young friend and spewed a continuous ream of worries as he searched the region below for his sister. It was nearing moonrise and still Katara had not retuned.

"Where is she? Where in the name of all the oceans is she! Katara should have been back hours ago; she would never have just wandered off like that. Where is my sister?"

"Sokka, please be quite," Aang pleaded tiredly. They had left Momo at their partially erected camp almost two hours ago and both boys were exhausted, wracked with hunger (Katara being the only one who could really cook), and plagued by horrific visions of what might have befallen their companion. "Look, I'm sure nothing really awful has happened to her, Katara is a waterbending master, she knows how to take care of herself," Aang said over his shoulder, not really sure if he was trying to calm Sokka or himself.

Deep inside, Aang felt physically ill from the adrenalin thoughts of a missing Katara sent to pool in his stomach; he thought he might vomit just about any moment.

Aang gazed over Appa's side, mesmerized by the bison's shadow cast upon the dense forest below, as though trying to find Katara in the familiar shape gliding over the tree tops.

Suddenly Sokka gasped behind Aang and the younger boy turned to look at his friend. "What is it Sokka? What?"

"Shush" the other man said, waving Aang into silence with one hand as he slid his body low against the bottom of Appa's saddle. "Quick! Get us to the ground, now." He whispered urgently.

Deftly, the monk led Appa to the grounds and the boys dismounted. Aang spoke first.

"Why did you have me bring Appa down, Sokka? Did you see some sign of Katara?"

" No," Sokka and Aang crouched low beside Appa, facing each the in the pale light the moon provided. "Just as we flew over the main path through the forest, I saw a pair of lights."

"So, maybe it was a couple of villagers with torches"

"In the middle of the night? I doubt it. Besides, there is something else. We were pretty high up, but I am almost certain I saw the head of a Firenation komodo rhino." Sokka finished solemnly.

"Oh gods, no. Not the Firenation, not now. " Aang moaned softly. "You don't think they have something to do with Katara going missing, do you?"

Sokka squirmed uncomfortably at the thought, "I really hope not, but we can't be too sure. I am going to try to sneak up on them and eavesdrop."

"No Sokka, it isn't safe!"

"Maybe they know about my sister, maybe not, but I can't walk away from them never having bothered to find out." The older boy finished with a set cast to his features.

Aang knew there was no way of talking his friend out of the idea of tracking the Firebenders, so he wouldn't even try. However, he could compromise with Sokka.

"Alright Sokka," Aang began in a placatory fashion, "I can understand your thinking and this idea has it's merits, but I think I should be the one to listen in on the Firebenders."

"But-"

"No Sokka listen," Aang hissed vehemently. "Your are a great warrior and a great tracker, but even the slightest sounds carry in this forest. With my airbending ability, I can lessen the sounds on the wind I would make."

Aang was right of course. Aang was always right.

Sokka finally consented "Fine. You go. Just be careful. Don't use your glider, it would make too much noise."

"Right." Aang rose to begin his task when Sokka's hand on his arm stopped him. The monk turned back to his friend. Sokka's face was pulled tight with worry.

"Aang, do me a favor."

"Anything."

"Find out where my sister is, but don't get yourself killed in the process."

Aang nodded solemnly, "I'll try my hardest not to get killed." This brought a small smile to Sokka's face and Aang returned it in kind.

Aang scrambled up the nearest bayuba tree and rolled into the large dip in the center. This particular Earth Kingdom forest was home to the world's largest population of bayuba trees, mighty oak-like structures that could grow to be 60-70feet high and supported a concave roof-like structure covered in dense spreading leaves. Long branches spread out from this natural platform and reached out to their fellow trees, making leaping from one tree to the next a breeze, completely eliminating the need to travel on the ground if one needed to remain unseen.

Aang straightened up and quickly pulled off his orange caftan so as to minimize the sound any extra clothes might have made one the night's strong wind.

Remembering an age-old warrior's tactic Sokka had once taught him, Aang knelt down beside a thick branch and, pulling a small dagger from the sheath at his waist, Aang thrust the blade into the wide limb.

Instantly, gooey sap began to leak out onto his hands. Aang rubbed the juice on to his palms, taking care to cover his vibrant tattoos in the amber goo, before repeating the process on his skull tattoo. A final streak of sap down the center of Aang's back to cover the last stretch of visible markings and he was ready to take the last step.

The young man rolled onto his back and hoped to all the heavens that the natural dais of the tree was home to enough dust and dirt to sufficiently coat his goo-covered tattoos and conceal them from the night of the moon.

The group had learned enough times that Aang's marks were practically luminescent under the light of a full moon. If he planned on tracking a deadly opponent such as a Firenation warrior, it was foolish to let something insignificant as his tattoos to give him away.

Sokka's voice floated up to Aang faintly, "Good Luck."

Aang raced from limb to limb, occasionally using small spurts of airbending to quiet his journey or make it across a particularly large gap. If there really were Firebenders in the forest that night, they were only there for one reason; to capture the avatar.

The warriors would be looking for signs of life. Most likely they had followed the trail Aang and his family had left from the village to their now abandoned campsite. That thought in mind, Aang set a swift course in that direction.

After five minutes of speedy gliding through the trees, Aang cold hear voices up ahead. The avatar stopped just as he was about to take a particularly large leap between two bayuba trees when he flung himself instead back into the hollow of the great plant. He crept to the edge of the tree and peaked over to see the trademark flaming hands of Firenation scouts.

"Are you quite sure you saw a water skin back there?" One man questioned of his companion.

"Yes, Udo, I am certain that we just passed their camp. Prince Zuko was right; they must have fled, but I don't see why he sent you and I out here in the middle of the night. The avatar and the other one are probably miles from here by now."

"I don't know about that Aki," the one called Udo replied in hushed tones as he and his partner examined a branch that Appa had broken only that morning. "The Prince seems to think that the girl's brother and the avatar will have remained behind to save her."

"Either way, I'm freezing my armor off here. I don't know how these Earth Kingdom rabble can stand these frigid nights." Aki complained.

"By Agni, you are such a tyro! You have to spend a little longer outside of the Firenation Islands before you are ready to sail with the Prince. I was with him when we sailed into the North Pole two years ago. Now **that **was cold, my little friend."

Aang listened, not daring to breath, as the two men followed the trail Appa had created that morning by barreling through the brush in search of a watering hole. Luckily, it would take Zuko's scouts in the complete opposite direction of where Aang had left Appa and Sokka.

When the young Avatar could no longer hear the complaints of Aki and the jaded Udo, Aang allowed himself to process what he had just heard: now he new for certain that Katara was in the hands of the Firenation. A cold wave of nausea swept across the fourteen year old, tinged with fear and the gnawing sensation at the back of his mind that he would not be able to save the most important woman in his life.

Katara's face swam before Aang's eyes and suddenly he remembered the pact he, Katara and Sokka had made those many, many months ago.

There was nothing else for it; Sokka and Sang would have to go the nearest Air Temple and wait for Katara there. They could rest and begin tracking Zuko, if nothing else, and devise a plan for Katara's rescue from a safe vantage point. Aang knew full well Katara wouldn't thank the two boys for barging onto her captor's ship and most likely getting themselves caught.

Aang lifted himself up again and, quickly leaping across the trees back to Sokka, prayed with all his might that they would all live to see one another again.

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Prince Zuko assumed the lotus position on a bamboo mat before the wall bearing an impressive piece of Fire Nation art; a vast piece of brass melted and molded and twisted and hammered to form great flames so realistic, one thought that to touch them would burn one's skin.

This motif was the object of Prince Zuko's meditation at the moment. He had been sitting like that for some time, trying desperately to relax and get the waterbender's voice out of his head.

After having left her in her cell, Zuko had stormed off, telling himself that her curses meant nothing to him. He had spent the next few hours with his Uncle Iroh, training like a man possessed. There had been stretches of time, wonderful periods, when he had managed to get his prisoner's last few words out of his head, before a small lapse in the action between the Prince and his sparing partner would allow them to cross his mind again.

"You bastard!" She had screamed. "You son of a jackal! I curse your family's name, I hope you burn in the hell of your gods!"

It wasn't the person speaking the words so much as the words themselves that had bothered Zuko; no matter what he told himself, having a woman damn him to hell in such a manner could be rather dissuading. It reminded him of his sister.

Zuko would have gladly trained into the night, but with the rise of the moon, Iroh insisted that they halt for the moment and all get some rest.

The crewmembers that had volunteered to spare witch Zuko were only too happy.

So the young man had retreated to his chambers only to find not a moments peace from the voice plaguing his thoughts.

He had done the right thing, he had. If capturing the avatar was the only way to return home, and the only way to get to the avatar was to take hostage his lady, then the only logical choice was for Zuko to have acted as he had.

Finally at peace with himself, the prince settled down to meditate.

However, Zuko had only just begun his deep breathing when a shout from above alerted him to the return of his scouts. Triumph swept through him at the thought that very, very soon, all would be as it should be. In a few days he could send word to his father in Sozen that Zuko had captured the avatar and was ready to return home and resume his rightful place as heir to the throne.

Quickly, Zuko pulled his shoes back on and made his way out of his apartments.

Once on the deck, the prince spotted his uncle and several sailors clustered around the pair of scouts Zuko had dispatched hours earlier. Their rhinos were being led away by four of the beasts' handlers and as Zuko drew closer, he could not help but notice that both scouts seemed to have rather defeated, wary looks on their faces.

These looks became more pronounced as Zuko came closer.

"My lord…" the first scout began bravely.

"Yes, what news have you for me?" Zuko was surprised to hear a note of some buoyancy in his voice that was usually so devoid of any such emotion. The scout did not seem to reciprocate this sentiment

"My lord…" the man started again. "My lord…you see…Udo and I scoured the woods for hours, we have only just returned…but…" he quelled under the furry growing in Zuko's golden eyes.

"Yes?" the prince growled.

The second man, Udo, took over the retelling of their trials. "My lord, the avatar and the water peasant are no where to be found. Aki and I searched every inch of those woods and the boys have most definitely fled."

Rage such as Zuko had only felt a precious few times before in his life filled the young man to the brim. No, no! He would not allow this to ruin his plans!

The girl would know where her fellows were hiding. Yes, once again the girl would prove to be the answer to all of Zuko's dreams.

"Prince Zuko?" Iroh's voice tentatively intruded upon Zuko's thoughts. He looked up to find every face in the small crowd trained intently on their Prince, apparently waiting for the axe to fall.

"Never mind this." He said brusquely. "Udo and Aki, you have done all that you could, I thank you for your services. If you will excuse me, I have business to attend to below decks."

The young man barely noticed the shocked looks on each and every face within hearing distance. Even his uncle was pleasantly surprised to hear Zuko control his anger in such a way and not throw the scouts overboard, as he had once been want to do.

Meanwhile, Zuko moved through the bowels of his ship. As his eagerness to interrogate the girls became greater, his steps became swifter, until Zuko found that he was almost running by the time he reached the waterbender's cell.

The single guard on duty straightened up upon catching sight of his Prince.

"My lord, do you require something of me?"

"No. I need to speak to the girl. Has she been any trouble? Tried to speak to you at any time since last I was here?"

"Not at all sire. I think she might have slept most of the night, and when I slid some food into her cell this morning, she made no protest."

"Good, let me in."

"As you wish sire." The guard turned to the heavy iron door and pulled a ring of keys from the sash at his waist. "You in there!" he called through the small opening in the top of the door. Zuko could a faint rustling of chains from within. The sentinel spoke again "You know the routine girl, keep your body facing the far wall until I have given the word."

There was more rustling of chains from inside the chamber and quickly the guard had opened the door and Zuko had passed through the portal the find Katara standing, shouted stiff in anger, with her face into the hot wall.

The door clanged shut behind them. "You may turn around." Zuko said.

She did. "What do you want now?" she snapped.

"I don't have time for this, peasant. Tell me where you brother and the avatar are hiding!" Zuko was just able to keep his rage in check. This proved to be much more difficult task when Katara's face lightened in pleased surprise. How dare she feel joy when Zuko's entire world could come crumbling down upon him at any moment?

"They got away?" tentative happiness laced her voice.

"Not for long. You are going to tell me where they have gone."

"How crazy do you think I am? I have already told you that I will never give Aang up to you."

"And how stupid do you think I am?" Zuko hissed as he closed the distance between them. He was inches away from her face when he whispered, "I will return to my land one way or another. Now, tell me where they have gone."

"I don't know."

His hands shot out of nowhere to slam into the wall beside Katara's face, trapping her against the wall between the cage of his arms. He completely filled her vision, he was so close. A thrill of fear raced through her body with the realization that if she pushed Zuko too far, he could very easily kill her right there in the prison of his ship.

"I don't believe you." His voice was tight with suppressed anger. "Let's try this again, shall we? Where. Is. The. Avatar?" Each word was perfectly enunciated.

"I don't know."

Zuko's breath came quicker and a familiar rush of rage swept up his body. No! He would not allow this simple peasant to get the better of him. He was her superior, her lord and master in every possible way, and she would not ruin all of Zuko's carefully laid plans now.

Zuko took a deep breath and a step back to appraise his captive. Imprisonment did not suit her, he noticed. The girl's hair was coming out of its careful braid and a deep flush had reddened her tan cheeks. It was actually a rather alluring effect. He grinned.

"Well, I know that your brother and the Avatar are no longer in the forest. There are no other towns in this area for a great distance. I can only suppose that they will be running over seas." Zuko watched her eyes carefully when he said this last piece and was rewarded by a slight quivering of her deep blue eyes. A perfect tell, caught just at the right moment, as Iroh had so often taught Zuko to catch them.

"Perfect." He smirked and leaned in closer to the woman and his smile widened. "I told you, did I not, that the Avatar would fall right into my hands? You have given up your beloved little monk. Didn't you swear that was the one thing you would never do?" He mocked.

She spat in his face.

Zuko wiped the spittle from his cheek and, with a low growl, backhanded the girl on her own cheek. She fell to the floor with a clatter of chains and had the good sense not to get up again.

"Guard! The door!" Zuko snapped.

Just as the man on the other side had managed to unlock the heavy portal and Zuko was on the other side, Katara croaked, to be heard through the still open door, "Your will never find him, you poor excuse for a man."

The door slammed hard behind Katara and she flinched at the noise. Faintly through the door she could hear the sounds a fire prince made when he stormed off in a temper. One thought became abundantly clear: Sokka and Aang had escaped! If there was any justice in the world, and any sense in Sokka's head, than the boys would remember their promise and might already be on their way to the nearest Air Temple, which, if Katara was correct, was the Eastern Air Temple.

The young woman grinned despite the smarting pain in her left cheek where Zuko had struck her. She lifted one hand to feel the tender flesh on her face. Katara had never been hit in such a manner before and though it came as quite a shock, the pain was sweetened by the knowledge that her family might survive to see another day.

Tugging her chains over to the single window, Katara continued the venture she had been working carefully and stealth-fully on before the guard had announced the Prince's arrival.

The window was small, barely little more than a porthole, but was filled with a sheet of glass several inches thick. However, the best past was that the deep chunk of glass was surrounded by metal.

Swiftly rusting metal.

Metal that Katara had been carefully chipping away at all morning when a careful examination of her cell had provided her with the knowledge of the tiny crack in the windowpane.

Exultation filled the waterbender when her fingers suddenly pocked through the wall of the ship. True, it was a minuscule opening and Katara's finger was greatly scraped from its journey through the rusty wall, but she could fell with the tip of her finger hanging over the ocean below that ever so familiar draw of the water.

With just a little more work Katara would have all she required to escape.

In the setting sun, the girl worked diligently, the only though in her head that of freedom.

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Mwahahahah! Yeah for cliffies! I know so many of you were wondering whether or not Aang and Katara are lovers…and you are just going to have to wait and see. I am so sorry if this has taken my longer than expected to update, but it wasn't like I was abandoning it or anything. Never fear, more to come.


	3. The Attempt

Ok, here it is, I finally updated! No time to explain, the giant absence just kinda happened, between finals and driver's ed (may they all die horrible fiery deaths), and just plain old writer's block. But don't worry, I have some great ideas for the next few chapters and I hope you guys love it.

Special thanks to anyone who reviewed I VLOVE YOU GUYS! U ROCK!

Right, here's chapter three.

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_He was running. _

_He was running through a wood lit by moonlight filtering in through the trees. He did not know where he was running to, or what he was running from, all that he knew was that if he stopped, something cataclysmic would occur. _

He arrived at the end of the thick forest. A white sand beach stretched out before him, sparkling strangely in the night. A breeze came up out of nowhere and brushed his bare back. "Run," it whispered to him.

_He ran. _

_He ran across miles of sparking beach before arriving at the edge of a great prairie, the knee-high grass swaying in an unseen breeze. _

"_Run, run, run!" the wind whispered urgently. _

He ran across the prairie. He ran through hill country when he came to it. He ran across deserts and tundras, plateaus and valleys, all the while accompanied by the wind urging him on. He never tired, nor did he ever stop.

_Quite suddenly he arrived at the edge of a dazzling pond, calm and so clear that he could see straight to the bottom. His tempest guide swirled once around him, brushing his bared chest, before darting forward to dance in cat's-paws across the water. _

_The surface of the pond began to twist into a whirlpool, subtly and at the center at first but moving ever more swiftly towards the edges of the pond. The gust of air plunged itself into the center of the eddy. _

_He stood at the side of the pool staring completely entranced as the wind arose once more from the pool, this time surrounded by a stream of water. _

_Glittering slightly, the wind shot off into the sky, but the water remained suspended above the surface of the still churning bath below. _

_It was changing. Twisting and shifting to assume the form of a young woman with her back to him. _

_Dusty skin flowed out from the naiad to encase her watery form in cinnamon glory. Thick, dark hair fell in glistening waves to her hips and like he she was nude from the waist up. Her arms were folded in front of her body, sinuously concealing her breasts. Hanging onto her hips there was a sheer cloth that looked blue when looked at from one angle but appeared green at the other. _

_The water licked at her feet. She was perfectly suspended above the pool, as though some blessed ability gave her the gift of walking upon water. _

_She turned to face him. _

_He stretched one arm across the space between them, but it never seemed to be long enough to reach her. _

_Her arms dropped from her breasts and raised themselves high above her head. In one swift motion she had brought them down and he was knocked onto his back with the force of a charging beast. He looked up in time to see the woman glide across the surface of the water towards him. He braced his body for battle, but no such attack came. _

_There was no rage in her eyes, no sign that she would do him any harm in the least. _

_The woman stepped onto the shore. Her eyes never left his face. _

_The strange fabric of her sarong parted and slid up her thighs as she straddled him and sank down on her haunches on either side of him. She placed a pair of small, warm hands upon his broad chest. _

_She lowered her head and placed a burning kiss on the smooth skin between her hands. His head tipped back as a low guttural moan escaped his lips. _

_He had just placed his hand upon the smooth bare skin of her back and was rubbing it softly up and down when something changed. _

_The grass beneath them was rustling as though in a high wind, though there was no breeze to speak of. The water in the pond was lapping harder against the shore and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on instinct. _

_There was a rushing sound; the wind had returned. _

_Quite suddenly the woman stopped her ministrations and looked up past his head, as though she could see something in the glittering wind that he could not. Without so much as a word she rose and stepped back towards the water, arms held wide open to welcome the wind. _

_It swirled around her. The man gazed up in wonder at the sight of the lady in her half dressed state, sarong blowing about her legs and hair lifted by the breeze. Suddenly the wind began to change as well _

_Like the naiad appearing from the pool, now a man began to form from the air dancing about them. _

_He was of a slight build and pale complexion. Like the other two he wore only a pair of loose yellow pants and a long staff was carried in one hand. He looked only once at the man he had guided across the world before turning his attention on to the woman. _

_The air around them seemed to have grown warm. _

_The man of air extended his hand to the woman and she placed her own small fingers into his strong grip. _

_It had now grown quite hot. _

_She looked back at him one last time before setting foot back in the water. She vanished. _

_The other man, the one who had guided the first to the pool, spared only a second. "Run," he whispered. And then he too vanished in a glittering breath of wind. _

_The air around the remaining man was almost unbearably hot at this point and quite suddenly he understood why the second man had told him to run; there was a terrible, horrific screeching growing ever closer. _

_He turned in the direction of the path he had trod to arrive at the pond and saw, to his horror, a great column of fire flying at breathtaking speed towards him. _

_He tried to move, but it was as though his feet were cemented to the soil beneath them. A dark, familiar laugh filled his ears, underneath which he could hear the screams of a thousand people in pain. They screamed and screamed and… _

And Zuko shot up in his bed. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck, when the sounds of a commotion reached his ears.

It had been the screams that had awoken him because there were many anguished and angry yells penetrating the walls of his chamber, just as they had penetrated his dream.

Something wasn't right.

Faster than the arrow out of a YuuYan archer's bow, Zuko had leapt from his bed and, not ever bothering to cover his bare chest, sprinted out of his suite and followed the sounds of fighting up to the deck of his ship.

What he found there shocked him so much that he actually stood stock still in the doorway to the deck for several precious moments:

Somehow, in some inconceivable way, the girl had gotten loose and was wrecking havoc all across his ship.

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It had all worked perfectly.

And also much quicker than Katara could have hoped. After Zuko had left her a day and a half ago to stew in fear in her cell, she had worked tirelessly at digging through the wall of her prison until she could fit almost her entire fist through the rusted-out patch.

With the precision born of years of mental training, Katara had bended water up from the ocean below her into the cell and she twirled the liquid into a watersnake, the better to focus her concentration, as she sometimes did when teaching Aang became especially vexing.

Hoping to all the gods that the guard outside her door would not hear her, Katara bended the water into a fine stream and feed it into the lock of the manacles around her wrists and froze the water with one quick blast of will. The lock shattered and Katara caught her former bonds just before they hit the floor and alerted her sentinel as to her doings. She performed this trick on the chains about her ankles and padded silently across to the door on the other side of which her first real obstacle stood on guard.

Yes, there had only been one way to go about it…or so Katara had kept telling herself as she had performed the deed. She had bended the water between the gap at the bottom of the door and, placing her hands on her side of the door the better to guide her weapon, she slid the water up the opposite side of the door. Katara could feel the heat emanating from her guard's body through the metal as he leaded against it in the other side. He still had not noticed the water clinging to the door just outside of his range of touch.

Katara closed her mind down as she had learned to do under Pakku's tutelage when they had been at the north Pole together; in this way, Pakku had said, Katara would become a calmer warrior and would not balk when the time came for her to perform an particularly unappealing task. She closed her mind, wiping it clear of any intruding thought and centered her attention entirely upon the guard's body heat through the door.

Katara flicked the water out to wrap around the guard's face and before she could tell herself to stop, had plunged the salty liquid down the man's throat. He gagged wetly. She controlled every movement blindly, never once faltering and hating herself more every moment.

Within seconds the man's hefty body had collapsed and Katara mentally bended the water out of the man's lungs. She recalled the water to her and performed the same lock-freezing trick she had used on her chains to open her cell door and was gone in a flash, sparing only a brief glance for her fallen guard. Katara had not intended to kill the man and most likely he was only stunned from such sudden, harsh treatment, but if Katara had inadvertently ended his life, she did not know how she would ever be able to live with herself. It did not matter that he was of the Fire Nation; Katara simply did not believe in unnecessary violence. Killing was completely against her moral code.

She had traveled like a shadow through the massive ship. Only once, when an elderly man of substantial girth had exited a chamber off of the main hallway, had Katara had to stop, gliding quickly into a small alcove off of the corridor. But as it turned out, the old man was a blessing in disguise. He had appeared to be speaking to someone still inside the room.

"Alright Lieutenant Ji, I will let the quartermaster know. You should get some sleep, even Prince Zuko has gone to bed; it is past midnight you know."

Whoever Lieutenant Ji was spoke from inside the room. "Thank you General, I will. I just want to finish this letter to San and Selluma."

"Oh, how nice! Tell me before you send it, I want to attach a message to Irina."

"Of course." The unseen man paused. "Um…General…I still can not thank you enough for all that you have done for-"

The old man held up a hand. "It was no problem at all Ji. I dare say Irina enjoys having them, little joys like them truly make her life worth living. She told my so herself."

"Thank you General."

"Not at all. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to alert the quartermaster about the change in the air pressure before I turn in. I do hope that if a storm is coming we can avoid it."

"As do I. Goodnight General."

"Goodnight Lieutenant."

And the man had sent off again, unaware that a blue phantom shadowed his every moment as he lead her up to the deck, and freedom.

All Katara had planned to do once out on the deck of the war galley was to simply leap overboard under cover of darkness and swim to the nearest shore. However, she had not counted on the deck to be crawling with soldiers. Or that they would be so damned observant.

Just as she had made the dash from the doorway the old man had unwittingly led her to, a voice had shouted out the three words that made her blood stop in her veins: "Hey! What's that?"

"Oh no!" She had whispered. She was almost at the railing, could she make it?

"It's the prisoner, she's escaping!"

"Sound the alarm!"

"General! The woman is escaping!"

Out of the shadows covering the ship emerged half a dozen figures garbed in the uniforms of Fire Nation soldiers, and at the front of the group was the very same old man that had led Katara up from the bowels of his ship. Every single hand of the soldiers circling around the waterbender was lit in flames and the hair on the back of her neck stood straight up. The old man spoke.

"Listen to me young lady, none of want to hurt you, we simply ask that you calmly come away from the side of the ship and let us put you back into custody. No one needs to get hurt."

Suddenly another solider came running out from the same door Katara had escaped from and sprinted up to the group, shouting, "Han! It's Han. He was guarding her and now he lies as though dead outside her cell. She has killed him!"

"No!" Katara shouted in disbelieving protest.

The firebender to her left visibly stiffened. "What? Han is dead?" he turned back to Katara. "You killed my brother! I will kill you murderous whore!"

And he rushed her. Pandemonium was not far behind. People were shouting, "Lee, no!" "Don't Lee, we need her!" "Someone get her back in chains!" "Stop him!"

In the meantime Katara was dealing with her attacker in the only way she knew how: by bending for her life. She had backed up to the railing and instead of jumping into the ocean as she had originally planned, knowing full well that her foes would simply pursue her, Katara bended a great stream of water up from the sea far below and whipped it at her assailant, finding a strange pleasure in throwing the man back several feet. But he had soon leapt back to his feet and was hurling ball after ball of fire at her.

Katara pulled the water back before her body and created a wall around herself that she quickly froze until there was ice whichever way she looked. This was only a temporary solution however, for now not only the man called Lee was assaulting her with blasts of fire, but now several other men had joined in to remove her from her icy refuge. Their element shimmered beautifully against the swiftly melting walls as the seconds passed and Katara's mind raced for a solution to get herself off of the ship.

She wiled the water to melt back into her hands and, catching the fire benders off guard, whipped the liquid in a wide arc, knocking back at least three soldiers. Men ran all around them, some shouting for more men, yelling for prince Zuko to come up on deck, calling for chains and irons to be brought.

Katara pulled more water from the ocean and formed a great globe around her body, which she pushed outwards with tremendous speed to clear the area around her free of attackers. Men went in every direction, some under their own steam in attempts to get away from the water-sphere, others being engulfed by the force and thrown onto the floor and railings of the ship.

"That is enough!"

Katara dropped her watery shields and looked up to see the man all called General striding through the fallen bodies of his men. A controlled fury sparkled in his eyes, matching the flames that sparkled and cracked around his hands.

His voice echoed across the dark water as he shouted to her, "You will do no more harm to these men. Now, I command you, surrender and you will not have to feel the wrath of the Fire Nation!"

Katara's response was to form a massive oval of water and thrust it at the man. Before he could react, Katara's shield had pinned him to the wall of the ship's tower and frozen to keep him in place.

Immediately three more soldiers came running from every direction and the General was swiftly breaking through his arctic bonds.

A great roar filled all their ears, so great that every single person on the deck stopped in their tracks and looked to the source of the sound. It was he, Zuko, come at last to battle for his ship.

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Zuko moved with an unimaginable speed towards the woman, eyes darting left and right to take in his crew and uncle incapacitated by the hellion, and his rage grew.

Instantly fire flew from his hands and the waterbender screamed and raised a sheet of ice before her. Zuko pounded upon the icy wall with blasts of fire and in seconds he had demolished it.

Zuko sprinted across the last few feet until there was barely a foot between him and his adversary. They exchanged blows faster than the eye could see, steam rising in a haze around them from where their two elements met.

Katara leapt back to give herself room to move and bended her water into a watersnake which she sent hurtling directly at Zuko's face, but the firebender in response sprang into a back flip and dodged the serpent entirely. Cheers rose up from the assembled soldiers watching the fight as their prince jumped to his feet again.

The pair circled each other, glaring daggers into the other's eyes. Zuko's still unclothed chest rose and fell rapidly in time to the swift beating of his heart and Katara's long, loose hair whipped about her face in the night's wind.

With a yell, Katara formed ice spike after ice spike and hurled them for all she was worth at the prince. He skillfully dodged most of them, but the last spike landed true, cutting a long but shallow gash across his exposed chest. A small trickle of blood seeped out of the wound and glistened in the moonlight.

That was the last straw.

He leaned his head backwards, back arched and arms taut, and Zuko roared once more, this time shooting flames straight into the night sky from his mouth. A great pillar of fire flew into the heavens and painted the stars in crimson light.

This sight was so shocking and at the same time so incredibly beautiful that Katara could not help but gaze up at the sky in wonder. Those few crucial moments would prove to be her downfall.

As the waterbender stood mesmerized, Zuko launched himself at her and had the woman pinned beneath him in two seconds. She struggled but Zuko only pinned her wrists above her head with one hand while the other pressed her head hard against the metal deck.

He hissed in her face, for only her to hear, "That is the last time I underestimate you peasant. These years have forged you into a master, but never again will you harm me or my crew."

Zuko stood, pulling Katara roughly to her feet as he went and, the cheers and whistles of his crew filling his ears, the prince flung Katara over his shoulder and carried her below decks. Iroh and Zuko's lieutenant trotted right behind him, Iroh with one hand clamped around Katara's own to keep her from bending.

Zuko barked out, "Ji, sweep the ship for injured and alert the infirmary that these men get the best possible care. Then go down to her old cell and figure out how in the name of Agni she escaped!"

The man Katara took to be Lieutenant Ji murmured, "Yes my lord" and scurried off to his assigned tasks.

"Her old cell, Zuko?" the old man said, hurrying to keep up with his nephew and still keep a solid hold on Katara's hands while she glared at him from her spot over the prince's broad shoulder.

"Yes uncle. Obviously we can't leave her to her own devices. She will be kept in the room attached to my suite. That room had never been good for much of anything, we might as well use it as a prison." Katara could feel how tightly wound the man's body was and with the return of her equanimity came the realization that in the three years she had been running from Zuko, she had never seen him quite so angry as he was now.

And could she blame him? Katara had just single handedly escaped from and vanquished Zuko's entire crew. If the prince himself hadn't turned up, Katara's freedom had been almost assured. Tui damn him.

Katara could hear a door being thrust open that Zuko was carried her through a small but richly furnished study, followed by what appeared to be a bedroom. With a start Katara realized that this was _Zuko's_ chamber.

"You will be kept in here from now on peasant" Zuko said, and Katara heard another door being opened and before she knew what was happening, Zuko had tossed the waterbender off of his shoulder and she landed quite hard on her ass on the floor of yet another metal room. Groaning, Katara moved onto her knees to face the door, but Zuko and his uncle had shut the heavy iron shield and the younger man was staring in at her through a small hatch in the top of the door.

"Listen ands listen good woman. My patience had just about run out with you. From this moment on you will be kept in this room. You will see no one, you will speak to no one, and never again will you get the chance to hurt one of my men."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Shut up! You have done immeasurable damage to some of my finest and most loyal warriors. You won't get that chance again. Understand what I say next: the only entrance to this room is through my own personal chambers. If you want to get through them, you have to get through me and I will not hesitate to kill you if it means keeping you from leaving these rooms. Now, I am going to leave you to think over what I have said while I see if any of my men have been crippled by you."

"I swear to the moon spirit that I didn't mean-"

But Zuko wouldn't listen to her desperate pleas. He simply slammed shut the small hatch and stalked off, Iroh hot on his heels.

"Zuko!" The old man hissed in disbelief. "Would you really kill that poor girl?"

Zuko stopped and turned to face his one true friend. Some of the tension relaxed out of his features now that he was no longer yelling at the source of all of his vexation.

"No…but she doesn't know that."

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The soldier Lee kneeled in the infirmary beside the unmoving form of his brother Han, one limp hand clutched in both of his big ones. How would Lee explain this to their mother? He was the elder brother; Lee should have been looking after Han. He had promised their mother he would.

Lee could well remember that day on the docks of Sozen before the brothers had set off with Prince Zuko when his mother had pulled him away from the place where Han had stood with his lady Akiko as she sobbed quietly into his shoulder, their little girl clinging to her mother's skirts with one hand and her father's armor with the other. Lee himself had never married, but he loved to spend his leave-time spoiling his only niece. Their mother had torn herself and Lee away and whispered in her elder son's ear,_ "Promise me you will look out for your brother out there Lee. You know he is not as strong as you, he is not meant for a soldier's life, please keep him from danger." _

"_I promise mama." _

"_You are such a good boy. Both my sons are good boys." His mother had beamed up at him. "Everyday I go to the market I am able to hold my head up high in pride, for all of the other woman know I have two bright, brave sons who would die for their country. If only your father could see you now." _

_Lee had smoothed his mother's graying hair out of her face and stood with her as they gazed at their brother and son with his young family. _

"_Akiko is with child again." His mother said suddenly. _

"_Yes?" Han had smiled at this unexpected but happy news. _

"_Yes. She is telling him now," Lee's mother said as they watched Han's mouth drop in astonishment before he laughed and scooped his wife and daughter up in his arms. "Please Lee, take good care of him." _

"_Never fear mama, I will protect him." _

I will protect him. Those words echoed mockingly in Lee's memory as he stared unseeingly at his younger brother, the one who as a small, chubby child had chased after Lee and his friends begging to be allowed to play too. As young teenagers they had competed for the attention and approval of their mother and as older teenagers they had competed for the affections of the same girl; the beautiful, gentle Akiko who would come to be Han's wife, with Lee's happy, resigned blessing. Han had enlisted in the national army simply to please Lee, to prove that he could be just as much of a man as the brother he so idolized.

Lee swore to himself that he would see the water nation bitch hang for what she had done to his only brother.

Lee's fellows clustered around him in respectful silence, wanting to ease their friend's grief in some way but not knowing how.

Abruptly, a tremor passed through the crowd and the men parted to allow their prince to enter the infirmary and move silently among his men.

Zuko stood above Lee, also looking down upon the inert figure on the infirmary cot, wondering just how Katara had managed what she had through three inches of solid iron. He must never underestimate her again.

"Is he…is he still alive?" Zuko asked in a quite voice to whoever would answer. The resident physician stepped forward out of the crowd.

"For the moment, yes my lord, Han still lives, but he has suffered much damage to his lungs and as you can see he will not wake from this strange sleep. We have tried everything." The man finished regretfully.

"Keep trying." Lee spoke in a dead voice.

"Of course." The physician said and retreated into the safety of the crowd behind him: the air was ripe with tension and no man wished to be caught in the crossfire.

Zuko hesitated, and then placed one hand awkwardly on Lee's shoulder. "How badly wounded were the others?"

Once again the ship's doctor answered. "Superficial wounds at best my lord. Udo has a broken collarbone and I still need to examine your uncle to make sure the ice did no damage to his skin, but there is nothing worse than that. Han is our chief concern."

Zuko squeezed Lee's shoulder briefly as he had seen Ji do for men who had received bad news from home. It was the only way he really knew to comfort people, so deprived were his experiences in comforting people. "Lee…is there…uh…anything I can do?"

The older man rose slowly to his feet and turned a grief stricken face upon his prince. But what startled Zuko was not the expression of such raw pain, but the fury burning in Lee's eyes.

He spoke. "My brother and I have not seen our home for four years! In that time our mother has taken ill three times and walked the edge of death when fever consumed her body ten months ago. My brother has not laid eyes on his wife since the day we set out with you. His daughter is almost seven and might not recognize him anymore. He has a child he has never even seen! A son! His wife told him she was with child the day we left and still my brother has not held his son in his arms. For four years we have never questioned your plan, but tonight was the last straw! My lord, I hold no rancor with you; I am sworn to you and will never betray your cause, but that demon woman you brought aboard must pay for he crimes against my brother. I will see her blood coat the decks of this ship!"

A cry rose up from the other men in agreement and Zuko could sense that a revolt could quite easily be brewing if he did not take action quickly.

Zuko turned back the larger group and raised his voice. " Hear me men! I take full responsibility for the events of tonight. Because of my own pride, I allowed myself to forget that this woman is a waterbending Master. But we will undermine her skills no longer; she is under my personal guard at every moment, she will lead us to the avatar in one way or another and when we have the avatar in our custody, we will return to our rightful places of honor in the Fire Nation."

Lee spoke, "That is not good enough! If my brother dies on this ship, I want to see her pay for her crimes."

Zuko looked his usually levelheaded soldier square in the eye, "In time, she will pay for her wrongs."

"How!"

"It has not yet been decided. There will be no more shouting this night. I want you all to try to get some sleep and be ready for whatever tomorrow brings. I promise you, the woman will never again be a problem."

Lee looked pacified, for the moment at least, and the other men were already allowing their better sense to return and remove themselves from the infirmary to sleep. Predictably, Lee sank back down beside his brother and everyone knew that the unfaltering man would leave his brother's side only when the Han's body was cold.

Zuko turned and walked quietly out of the long room. As he passed his uncle, Iroh cast him an appraising, slightly approving look, as though he was very much pleased with the way his nephew had handled his crew before going over to comfort Lee.

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In her latest cell, Katara was pacing from side to side, gone almost crazy in the new space. True, it was larger than her old cell, and now that she was no longer as close to the boiler room the temperature was slightly more bearable, but the room was completely devoid of any windows. Waterbenders were not meant to be without windows! Katara's people loved being able to look up at any time and see birds soaring through the sky or, more importantly, gaze endlessly at the moon, their patron goddess.

She pushed her tangled hair out of her face and moved to the nearest wall, placing her hands upon the iron in a desperate attempt to feel for any source of water on the other side. Bu there was nothing. Katara practically ran from wall to wall, running her hands across the walls in vain, feeling for water that just could not be found in the center of a vast ship. Only once did Katara's hopes rise. She had just felt that familiar tug that meant water was near, but the more she concentrated on it, the more she realized that the supply was inside the ship and quite small, like the amount needed to fill a bath. Was she next to a bathing chamber perhaps?

Whatever the floor plan, Katara swiftly realized that she was truly at the mercy of the Fire Nation. She had no weapons and on the other side of the room's only door there was a man who would not hesitate to kill her.

His parting words haunted her, but not so much as those of the soldier who had first attacked her. He had screamed for her death, that she had murdered his brother. It had never been her intention to do so, and yet here she was, held hostage and accused of murder.

Despite the heat of her surroundings a terrible chill swept up her body. Katara shivered uncontrollably and her belly churned in self-hating nausea. She slid down the wall to sit huddled against the floor. Her clothes were in tatters and her hair fell like a curtain in front of her face.

Murder.

The word was like a stain upon her soul and no matter how purely she lived her life from this moment on, the blood of an innocent man would forever be on her hands.

The edged of her vision were growing black. She blinked rapidly but that only made the spots worse. Her breath came quickly and before Katara could brace herself, she slumped down the rest of the way until she lay, semiconscious, on the warm metal.

Her last words for the night slipped from her lips just before exhaustion and trepidation wore her body into sleep, "Aang, I'm scared."

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On the other side of Katara's door Zuko knelt next to the single lamp still burning in his chamber and nursed the wound dealt to him by the waterbender. His fingers moved gingerly over the cut which, though shallow, still stung considerably due to the jaggedness of the ice spike that had cut him.

The bleeding had long since stopped and as Zuko applied a thin layer of healing salve, he was reminded of his mother and the many times Ursa had patched her son up after a rather disastrous training session. Azula would laugh but the Fire Lady had simply kissed her son on the cheek and told him not to listen to his sister. Her touch was always so gentle and not for the first time since his mother had vanished from his life, Zuko again longed for the gentle touch of a woman.

Not in a motherly sense, no; Irina, whenever he saw her, retained the same tender firmness of Ursa. If he was truthful with himself, what Zuko really wanted was the touch of a woman who both desired him and cared for him. A woman who would warm his bed and welcome him into hers late at night when he was tired and merely wished to rest in her embrace. But where would a banished prince ever find such a woman?

After Zuko had put away the last of his bandages, he made his way tiredly back to his bed. Just as he was about to crawl back under the covers for a few hours much needed sleep he caught sigh of something small on the floor next to the door behind which his captive now presumably slept.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Zuko dragged his fatigued body through the gloom of his room and bent to pick up what turned out to be a scrap of cloth. Upon closer inspection, Zuko realized that the scrap of soft blue cloth in hand belong to Katara's robe. It must have ripped during their battle and fallen in his berth when he carried her through.

Subconsciously it seemed his fingers had been caressing the soft material and, unbidden, an image of a woman clad only in a skirt much like the cloth in his hands levitating over a beautiful pool came to his mind.

A sharp stab of lust shivered through his body and Zuko wondered once again what it would be like to bed the waterbender. She was undeniably beautiful, with the softest skin Zuko had ever seen outside of a Fire Nation lady and eyes that seemed to now more than they should. Yes, Katara was exquisite, it was true…and mist likely his uncle had been correct and she was sharing the bed of the Avatar. Zuko would never force himself on another man's woman, and in truth, what sensible woman would accept the attentions of a man who had been hunting her and her lover for almost three years?

His shoulders slumped in tiredness; this was no time to pity himself. Zuko needed sleep and just as he had told his men, tomorrow would bring a clearer light.

The prince crawled back into his bed, the bedclothes still disheveled from his midnight flight, and lay on his back gazing up at the ceiling, fingers still caressing the piece of the waterbender's robes as a child would a favorite blanket and waited for sleep to come.

However sleep eluded the prince for almost an hour. His mind was too full of conflicting images: Katara bathing in the glade the day he had captured her, Iroh pinned to the wall of the ship by a great sheet of ice, an enraged but beautiful woman in chains cursing his name, Han lying motionless in the infirmary.

It was this last image that stiffened Zuko's resolve and he sat up swiftly in bed. The cloth lay smooth and harmless in his palm.

Zuko stared hard at the piece of her robe as he allowed flames to engulf his hand and the cloth ignited. Zuko stared at the flames for the longest time until nothing was left in his hand but ashes.

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Ok, so I took too long, whatever, I'm in a great mood now, though I don't know why because it is way too hot were I am now and my brother brought over his friend so I had to run upstairs and put on a bra, which I hate but I am happy nonetheless because…YEAH! I UPDATED!.

Back to business: the constant references to Irina will make sense in a few chapters, but for the moment I want to keep her identity a secret. The next chapter will probably be pretty short and updated quickly so don't give up on me! Also, many of you have been wondering weather or not Katara and Aang are lovers and to answer your question…well, your just gonna have to wait, aren't you?

Hmmm, I hear thunder, maybe it will rain soon. God I hope so. If I were alone I would totally go dance half naked in the rain. Goddammit, why did my parents have to be home today! God dammed national holiday.


End file.
